CHENNAI: When Priyadarshini Jain, a visual arts graduate, had to come up with an idea for her final year project, she knew she wanted to do something different, vibrant and colourful. With a keen interest in drawing and illustrations even as a child, Priyadarshini decided to do something with it.
“I was thinking about the theme I should choose and I came across a lot of colouring books, but none that represented India. That got me thinking, because ours is one country that has so many colourful elements. You just have to look around a little,” she says.
To represent that, without having to compromise on the authenticity, she created This is India only, her first-ever adult colouring illustration book. She has included folk art elements such as kalamkari, gond and madhubhani in her book to give it an authentic touch. The book has 22 pages of illustrations and includes elements such as a typical Indian wedding, vehicles, animals, the Indian bride and groom, etc.
“The idea was to add the ‘Indianness’ to everything that you see around. In a typical Indian wedding, you will see both the bride and the groom in traditional attires. The whole place is decorated. Even animals like horses and elephants are decked up for a function in our country,” she points out.
Apart from her love for colours, Priyadashini’s motive was to create a book that would help reduce stress and tension. “This is mainly for today’s teenagers and adults. Nowadays people are under a lot of stress, so I wanted to this book to be a stress buster. I have retained humour in my book and it helps you de-stress and relax when you sit with it,” she smiles.
Priyardarshini aims to expand it to other colourable products and will soon launch canvases and notebooks too. “I got an amazing response when I exhibited my book for the first time at Lalit Kala Akademi. I had put up two huge wall posters of the illustrations from my book and it was open to people to colour. And the positive feedback I got from there motivated me to do more,” she adds.
So, what elements would she include if she had to do an illustration of the city? “Idly-dosa, saapadu, our autos, malli poo, silk saree and the lungi fascinate me a lot,” she laughs. Priced at `999, she has managed to sell close to 60 books in the last three months. “It is a little expensive because the paper I use has to be imported from England and is of a high quality. You can colour it using any medium — watercolours, colour pencils and sketches. But I am working on publishing it with a less expensive paper of similar quality soon,” she says.